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Mulayam and Modi trade charges in Uttar Pradesh

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Sanjay Pandey, Lucknow, Jan 26, 2014, DHNS:,

Jan 24 2014, 02:41am ist

updated: Jan 24 2014, 02:41am ist

Although they addressed public rallies almost 200 kilometres apart, the animosity between the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav didn’t lack any sting on Thursday.

In Varanasi, Mulayam Singh took a shot at the Gujarat Chief Minister by referring to the 2002 riots, saying that such incident was not desirable in Uttar Pradesh.

“Modi kahata hai UP ko Gujarat bana denege....kya katleam karayega yahan?” (Modi says he will turn UP into Gujarat...does he want another genocide here), he said.

Mulayam also asked why the BJP didn’t pick someone else to lead the party in the 2014 Parliamentary elections. “Was there no other person in BJP that they chose Modi?” he asked.

In another reference to allegations of communalism that have plagued Modi, the SP supremo said the Gujarat CM’s hands were “soaked in blood”.

“Modi lacks human qualities; during his rule womenfolk were humiliated and people were killed,” said Mulayam, referring to 2002 Gujarat riots. The SP leader also alleged that he was asked not to visit riot-affected areas in Ahmedabad when he had visited with Left party leaders.

Modi said Mulayam did not understand what Gujarat meant. He said it involved providing citizens 24-hour power supply, achieveing 10 per cent growth in agriculture for 10 years. He said Mulayam had ruined Uttar Pradesh.

The SP and BJP have recently been comparing crowds at each other’s rallies.

Both parties have been trying to out do the other. For this purpose, they’ve been holding rallies on the same day. Previously, Modi had addressed a rally in Varanasi on the same day that Mulayam addressed a rally at Budaon.

Even before that the SP had organized a rally on November 21 at Bareilly, while Modi had addressed a rally at Agra.

Congress attitude is anti-poor: Modi

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi hit out at the Congress Party on Thursday by saying that they were “mocking the poor” by taking a jibe at his history as a tea seller, DHNS reports from Lucknow.

Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyyar had said Modi could come and sell tea at a recently party meeting the Congress had held in Delhi.

Modi said the Congress couldn’t fathom a tea seller could give them a fight. “Congress' attitude is anti-poor and therefore it cannot digest that a tea seller can also challenge it,'', Modi said while addressing a rally at Gorakhpur.

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